


Tennessee

by esperink



Category: Be More Chill - Iconis/Tracz
Genre: He's so oblivious it hurts, M/M, Oblivious Jeremy, Pick-Up Lines, expensive headphones is there for like a sec but hardly noticeable
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-29
Updated: 2018-05-29
Packaged: 2019-05-15 08:37:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,463
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14787107
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/esperink/pseuds/esperink
Summary: Jeremy is a little too oblivious and Jake just wants to express how he feels.





	Tennessee

**Author's Note:**

  * For [PointyAnimeTeeth](https://archiveofourown.org/users/PointyAnimeTeeth/gifts).



> [prompt](https://otpnerd.tumblr.com/post/161818474056/otp-ten).

It happened to be a few months after the SQUIPcident, as Rich had dubbed it, when Jake realized he had, in a way, gotten over Chloe.

…By transferring his feelings for her to Jeremy.

Which, if Jake thought about it too much, probably wasn’t good, because he wasn’t sure if he actually liked Jeremy that way, or if he was just feeling that way because he hung out with him more than he hung out with Chloe.

So he kept quiet until he was sure he actually liked him. And maybe it was a transference of feelings, but that didn’t mean that they weren’t real, right?

He sat with his other friends at lunch, watching Jeremy from afar. Jeremy was sitting with Michael at another table, across the cafeteria. Jeremy and Michael were always welcome to the table Jake and his friends sat at, but they would occasionally sit elsewhere. It was nothing against anyone, Jeremy had assured everyone; he just liked to sit with just Michael sometimes.

Jake made a soft wistful sound when Jeremy laughed at something Michael had said.

“Yo? Jake?” Rich snapped his fingers in front of his face, and Jake blinked, looking over at him. Rich had a small smirk on his face. “So uh, what’re you looking at over there?”

“Nothing,” Jake said, busying himself with cleaning up his eating area.

Rich laughed. “I’m not going to judge. I’m not like that anymore.”

Jake knew that. He knew that since the fire he had changed. Rich had explained everything. Rich was actually a nice person when he didn’t have an abusive supercomputer in his head.

“So, Jeremy or Michael?” Rich questioned.

Rich being so straightforward with his inquiry surprised Jake into answering honestly. “Jeremy.”

Rich hummed. “Good, because I wouldn’t want any competition,” he said as he got up to throw away some trash.

Jake furrowed his brow in slight confusion until Rich came back to the table. When Rich looked at Jeremy’s and Michael’s table Jake understood. He smiled a little. “Michael _is_ kind of cute,” Jake offered, and Rich rolled his eyes.

 

* * *

 

The group was hanging out at the mall a few days later. Some of them were milling about, while others went to specific stores and stands. Jake was sitting in the food court, glancing around.

“Dude, this,” Rich said, shoving his cell phone into Jake’s hands.

Jake blinked for a moment, confused as to where exactly Rich came from, before looking down at the screen. “Pick-up lines?”

Rich nodded with energy. “I dare you to go say one to him.” It wasn’t surprising to see he was pointing at Jeremy, a little ways away, leaning against the wall and looking at his phone. Michael seemed to be inside a store because he wasn’t around.

“What? I can’t do that,” Jake said, forcing himself to keep his voice low.

“Come on,” Rich said.

“You do it,” Jake mumbled, pushing the phone back to Rich.

Rich seemed to think for a moment. “I’ll do one later if you do one now.”

Jake looked at him for a moment, before sighing and standing. Rich grinned in victory, and Jake rolled his eyes at him before making his way towards Jeremy. He stuck his hands in his pockets in nervousness when he got to him. “Hey,” he said.

Jeremy looked up and pocketed his phone. “Hey,” he replied, giving a little wave.

Jake blinked at him a few moments before he reminded himself to stop staring.  “I uh, got a question.” Jeremy gestured for him to go on. “Are you from Tennessee? Because you’re uh – you’re the only ten-I-see.”

Jeremy stared at him blankly for a moment. “Brooke’s from Tennessee,” he said, pointing in the direction of Brooke.

“I… um,” Jake said. “Yeah…” He rubbed the back of his neck. “I’ll just uh…” He gestured, and Jeremy watched him in a confused manner, but Michael had chosen that moment to come back so Jake was able to escape back to the food court.

Jake groaned and covered his face with his hands. Rich was laughing.

“Your turn,” Jake muttered, so Rich slipped his phone back into his pocket before standing and making his way to the duo. Jake watched as Rich stood in front of Michael. Michael stopped chatting with Jeremy to greet him. Rich said something and was apparently successful, because Michael immediately looked flustered. Jake watched them chat for a few more moments before sighing and resting his head on the table.

A few minutes later Rich came back and sat across from Jake. Jake looked up. Rich was grinning. “Guess who has a date Friday night?” Jake didn’t reply, dropping his head back onto the table.

 

* * *

 

A week later Jake glanced across the cafeteria again. Jeremy was sitting alone, waiting for Michael. He wondered if he’d have enough time to try to talk to him. Part of him wanted to try again.

Rich gently nudged Jake, and Jake glanced at him. Rich nodded towards Jeremy. Jake, after another moment of hesitance, stood and made his way over to the other boy, hoping not to mess up this time.

“Hey Jeremy,” Jake said, taking a seat across from Jeremy.

“Hey, Jake,” Jeremy replied brightly. He was always in a decent mood around lunch. “What’s up?”

Jake mulled over an answer. “Not much, I guess. What’s that?” He nodded to the device Jeremy held in his hands.

“Oh, Michael’s letting me borrow his GameBoy,” Jeremy said. “I found a few games in the attic.”

“That’s pretty cool,” Jake said. He knew Michael would show up any moment. “So uh, did it hurt?”

Jeremy looked up from the GameBoy at the taller boy in confusion. “Did what hurt?”

“…When you fell from heaven?”

Jeremy, once again, stared blankly. “Did you just call me Satan?”

Michael, who must have arrived within the last minute and stood behind Jake, choked on his slushy. He coughed, but it was clear he was also trying not to laugh.

Jeremy stood, grabbing napkins from the dispenser in the middle of the table. “Michael? Are you okay?” He went to his friend’s side and offered him some of the napkins.

“Yeah, I’m good,” Michael gasped. “I’m good.”

“I’ll… let you two eat lunch,” Jake said, standing and making a beeline back to his own table. He sighed when he sat down. Rich returned from the lunch line of the cafeteria and sat down next to him.

“He really is clueless isn’t he?” Rich asked sympathetically.

“There has to be a way, right?” Jake asked, feeling a little desperate. He got a text notification, and checked his phone.

 **Michael: (12:42 PM)** you’re gonna have to be straightforward with him my dude

 **Michael: (12:42 PM)** jer is so oblivious about things it’s not even funny

Jake bit his lip and glanced back across the cafeteria. Jeremy and Michael were in an animated conversation.

“Your pick-up lines are a little subpar anyway,” Rich said.

“Well, what did you use?” Jake asked.

Rich smiled. “’I must be in a museum, because you truly are a work of art’.”

“That’s really good…”

“Yeah, I know.”

 

* * *

 

 **Jake: (6:36 PM)** So I just have to

 **Jake: (6:36 PM)** just say it?

 **Michael: (6:40 PM)** that’s how it’s gotta go

 **Michael: (6:41 PM)** he won’t notice unless you state it right out

 **Michael: (6:41 PM)** trust me

 **Jake: (6:43 PM)** Personal experience?

 **Michael: (6:44 PM)** ye

Jake slid his phone back into his pocket after rereading some texts from the night before. It was right before lunch, in science class, and he and Jeremy had science class together. He needed to give it one more try.

He just had to be… straightforward.

Right.

The last ten minutes of science class was usually given freely by the teacher. People were allowed to do whatever they wished in the last ten minutes as long as it wasn’t illegal and nobody got hurt.

Jake stood from his seat seven minutes before class ended. He moved over to sit next to Jeremy. Jeremy looked up from his phone with a slight smile and wave. “Jeremy,” Jake said.

“Jake,” Jeremy said in response.

Jake made a cursory glance at Chloe, who sat a few seats away, and hoped she wouldn’t hear or say anything. He looked back at Jeremy. He clasped his hands together. “Will you go on a date with me?”

Jeremy dropped his phone and stared at him. “What?”

“A date. With me. Would you…?” Jake said hopefully.

There was a long silence.

“Okay,” Jeremy finally said.

Jake let out a breath he wasn’t aware he was holding in relief. “Okay?”

“Yeah.” Jeremy smiled at him, and Jake felt his heart speed up a little.

**Author's Note:**

> did i do good? idk i haven't written deere before, lemme know
> 
> anyway hi hello yes this is for PointyAnimeTeeth because I love getting comments from them and they've said that there's not enough Deere so he(e)re. ^-^


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